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Russell Blackford

They are still fish - Arthur C. Clarke's transhumanist comment on space colonisation

(Crossposted from Metamagician and the Hellfire Club.) 

I've used this Arthur C. Clarke quote before, but I came across it again while working on an article for Cosmos, and it's worth another look. The elements of technological meliorism and posthuman vision in Clarke's work are nicely blended here, in a passage from Profiles of the Future.

Writing, though he was, decades before "transhumanism" was more than a stray word coined by Julian Huxley, Clarke draws a clear transhumanist implication, one that needs no glossing from me. He acknowledges a criticism by Lewis Mumford of the prospect of space colonisation, then responds with a memorable image of his own:

But when [Mumford] wrote: "No one can pretend ... that existence on a space satellite or on the barren face of the Moon would bear any resemblance to human life", he may well be expressing a truth he had not intended. "Existence on dry land", the more conservative fish may have said to their amphibious relatives, a billion years ago, "will bear no resemblance to piscatorial life. We will stay where we are."
 
They did. They are still fish.

Published Monday, May 14, 2007 3:33 PM by Russell Blackford

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About Russell Blackford

I am an Australian philosopher, writer, and critic, currently based in Melbourne. I am editor-in-chief of the Journal of Evolution and Technology. At the moment, I am a graduate student and a sessional teacher in the School of Philosophy and Bioethics, Monash University. I am also a Fellow of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and Editor-in-Chief of "The Journal of Evolution and Technology". I have extensive experience that encompasses academic teaching and research, public service, labour relations work, and professional legal practice. As a creative writer, I specialise in science fiction and fantasy. Some examples are a trilogy of tie-in novels written for the ''Terminator'' franchise and my 2005 novel, ''Kong Reborn'' ... a sequel to the original (1933) ''King Kong'' movie. My non-fiction work frequently deals with issues involving the human, or posthuman, future. I am interested in the ethics, and possible regulation, of emerging technologies, and the future of religion, morality, art, literature, political organisation, and human nature itself. I have a particular interest in the history and current state of the science fiction genre - and where it may be headed. Some of my published articles are available on my web site. My formal qualifications include First Class Honours degrees in Arts and Law, a Ph.D on the supposed return to myth in contemporary literature (as postulated by Northrop Frye), and a Master of Bioethics degree. I'm now completing a second Ph.D - this time in philosophy. This may seem extravagant, but I have my reasons! Links: My official website: http://russellblackford.com My "other" blog: http://metamagician3000.blogspot.com/ An academic CV: http://www.users.bigpond.com/russellblackford/APhilosophyCV.htm Journal of Evolution and Technology: http://jetpress.org/ I can't resist this quote, from Sam Harris: "It is true that the rules of civil discourse currently demand that Reason wear a veil whenever she ventures out in public. But the rules of civil discourse must change."
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